Would it alter the community
to the point of making it unrecognizable to those living
there? Yet, growth requires
some risk, so the community of Ingleside welcomed the
Navy.
Metal followed suit in 1950, opening a plant
only five miles away. DuPont followed and a
local plant was built in 1973. Ingleside developed primarily as a residential area and was
incorporated in 1951. In 1954, the Corps of
Engineers cut a channel, La Quinta Channel,
through Ingleside Point, thereby demarking
an area known as Ingleside-on-the-Bay. This is
where the United States Navy planned to open
its Homeport in 1995!
The population of Ingleside grew steadily after
1972 and in 2000 Ingleside had a population of
9,388 - one-third of which were active duty naval personnel! What happens when a military
base is closed?
We often hear of military base closures - the
recommendations, the fears of communities who face such huge economic
upheaval, and the actual closings,
but what happens after a military
base leaves? What happened in the
community of Ingleside over the
past twenty years offers a view into
growth, risk, and overcoming obstacles.
Ingleside was a community prior to
the Navy's interest. When the Navy's
courtship began, H